Capers and Camaraderies
by crazydesi15
Summary: Next Gen. When James and Pippa unearth a long-forgotten competition between seventh years, it's not long until the other houses catch wind. Soon enough, alliances are formed, and enemies are made. James and Pippa just might have started a war.


This is the first fanfic I managed to upload onto fanfiction with the help of my friend (I am technologically challenged). Since I thought that the essence of the HP series is lost in a lot of other fanfics (mine included), I wanted to make one Hogwarts related with a theme that was in the original book series. I'm actually writing towards a goal/have a plot line now! Many thanks to_ theweaslette_, _Curlz,_ and countless other friends who actually read it when I forced them to. And edited (its not slavery if they're you friends). Enjoy!

Disclaimer: It doesn't take a Ravenclaw to figure out that I'm not Ms. Rowling. I do not own anything that you recognize. Plot and OC's are all mine.

* * *

><p>It had started out innocently enough.<p>

Pippa was coming down with a fit of do-or-die, and James in an effort to console her, had come up with the perfect idea.

The underground passage that led to the cellar of Honeydukes was tried and tested and true. James and his siblings had slipped through there plenty of times to snag eats for various parties. But James had never shared another secret the passage held. For some reason, he was willing to share it now.

"Almost there now," He encouraged her. "We're almost there."

Pippa panted to keep up with his long strides, cursing his tallness, and shoving her hair behind her ear. She wasn't usually the type of girl to be caught sneaking around in secret passage ways with boys—much less James Potter who had the type of reputation that would make her grandmother blush—but this wasn't any normal day.

She had been doing her prefect duties when it had struck her—she was now a seventh year. This would be her last year at Hogwarts. And she had done nothing memorable to remember it by.

James, a prankster with his own reasons for sneaking around at night, had found her, fifteen minutes later, behind a tapestry on the third floor; sobbing inconsolably. He'd struggled to figure out what to do; she was a prefect and he wasn't really supposed to be sneaking around at night. He had his charms but it didn't really seem right to just fool her and walk away—especially when she was in such a right state. So he'd done what he thought was the most sensible thing to do.

He'd offered her a Jammie Dodger.

Once she'd gotten over her initial surprise, she'd accepted the treat, and munched on it thoughtfully as James sat awkwardly beside her. Finally, when she had calmed down James poked her.

"Er—what's wrong?"

James wasn't known for being tactful—he was suave, sophisticated, debonair, charming, mischievous, but not tactful. And most of the time, he could get away with it. But right now, he had no idea what to do. Thankfully, Pippa took the invitation to clear her mind, along with another bite of the Jammie Dodger, and began spilling her heart out.

"It's our seventh year, and I haven't done _anything_ memorable. I'll be gone next year and there'll be nothing to suggest that I've even set foot in this place. I'm so—bloody—_normal!_" With this, she promptly burst into tears again as James marveled at how hormonal girls could be.

"There, there," He'd said as he'd patted her back uncomfortably. He had to think of something—_anything —_to get her to stop crying. He'd dug himself into this hole when he'd pulled back the tapestry; he'd have to heft himself out. Unfortunately, he was going to have to heft her out of the hole too now.

And then the idea struck him.

"You want to do something memorable, eh?" He asked, standing up. Pippa looked up at him, confused.

"What?"

"You want to do something to be remembered by, right?" He'd said. "Well, if you can keep a secret, I'll show something memorable."

"_What?_" Pippa managed to let out, flustered. "I'm not going to any broom closet or anything, thank you—"

"What?" He repeated, spluttering, momentarily taken off guard. He cleared his throat, flushing red. "Excuse me, but I have no interest in you whatsoever _that way_. If I _wanted_ to be snogging you senseless right now, then we wouldn't be having this conversation."

Pippa had no idea how to respond. It was beginning to dawn on her that he wasn't exactly completely sane.

"Well, are you coming or not?" He asked, turning on his heel and striding off down the hallway.

It took Pippa about eight seconds of solid brain power before she realized that she had the upper hand in this situation; she was a prefect and he wasn't supposed to be wandering the halls after curfew. If he tried to pull anything, she could just threaten him with detention. The fact that she was a witch taking Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts struck her a few seconds later.

So she sped after him.

That was how they had ended up in the passageway leading to the Honeydukes cellar behind the statue of the One-Eyed Witch. Once Pippa had gotten over her initial shock, and James had explained everything thoroughly to her, she'd kept a tight grip around her wand and was following him down.

"I-I think we're here," He said, and Pippa almost crashed into him, he stopped so abruptly. He stumbled a little, but Pippa managed to catch her balance. An awkward look was exchanged. Pippa flushed cherry red.

James shook his head, and turned towards the wall; beginning to clear away the dust and dirt on it. "I found this book when I came in here for the first time." He smiled at the memory. "I was up after curfew, exploring with Maruaders Map, when I saw Professor Longbottom coming towards me. I headed straight into this passageway; it was the closest one. I ran in and stopped about here to catch my breath," He dug the toe of his sneaker into ground. "When I put my hand up against the wall, my hand pushed in and then the brick wouldn't move anymore. So I opened it and there it was," He grinned as he cleared away the last of the dirt. He pulled out the brick, which would have been unrecognizable against the dirt-and-wood wall unless one had known it was there.

Pippa watched curiously as he hefted the brick out with an "oof!" He put it on the ground, and reached inside the vacant brick-sized hole and pulled out a book; brown and dusty, with yellowing pages and a faded cover. He blew the dust off—straight into Pippa's face.

"Sorry," He smiled sheepishly as she coughed.

"Fine," She tried to control her hacking. "Get on with it."

"Right, so, I read a little bit," James flipped it open carefully. "And it's probably one of the coolest things I've ever read."

Pippa raised her eyebrows in a "yeah-so-what" kind of way.

James rolled his eyes. "_So_," He said. "It tells about this secret inter-house competition, hidden from the teachers. The graduating class of seventh years were the only one that could compete. Seventh years from Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff picked a team that would try to find this special Phoenix charm," He paused at a page and pulled it around to show it to Pippa. Sure enough, it was a Phoenix, every single detail from its feathers to its eyes carved carefully into it.

"You see, whichever team found it put it on top of their house flag," James said proudly. "It was kind of like this big thing of honor—and bragging rights," He paused. "Apparently Hufflepuff actually won a fair amount of times."

"Interesting as it is, what on earth am I supposed to do about this?" Pippa asked, a bit impatiently.

"Well, see, that's the thing," James flipped through the book, his brow furrowed. "This book—it's charmed, see—recorded every one of the contests, and who won." He stopped at the end of the book. The year and the house that won had been neatly recorded in little columns. "But then they stopped, around 1967. The next years seventh years tried to get together, but they couldn't find the charm. And then some of the houses began dropping out. And then, after a while, the competition was forgotten. The book, which had been put back in here, its hiding place, was left here."

"And you're saying that…?" Pippa asked.

"Well, you can find the charm," James said, looking up, excitement in his eyes. "I mean, it won't be any competition or anything, but it'll be just for fun and I'll bet the Slytherin's will be plenty jealous," James grinned smugly.

"If a team of people specializing in this couldn't find it, then what's to say that I can?" Pippa asked.

"Don't start anything saying no," James said. "Who's to say that you won't be able to find it? And at least you'll have a good time doing so. Come on," He nudged her. "Just say yes."

The walls creaked and groaned.

"_James_," Pippa whined.

"There's nothing to loose," He said, widening his eyes; an earnest expression on his face.

The creaking became louder.

"I don't know," Pippa pondered it. He was right; there wasn't anything to loose. But she didn't even know the first thing about _any _of this stuff. What if he was just pulling a prank on her?

"Everything's in the book," He said, as if sensing her thoughts. "And I'm not pulling your leg; swear on _Quidditch_."

Pippa narrowed her eyes. "So why haven't _you_ found this thing yet?"

James shrugged. "I'm a busy guy. Never really caught my fancy."

Pippa gave him a disbelieving look.

"Swear on _Quidditch_."

Pippa sighed. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to just look the book through—"

James grinned. "Fantastic! It'll be really excellent; our house pride's been down for a while now-ever since we lost the Quidditch match to Hufflepuff. If we can have a Phoenix charm on our flag during graduation it'll be good for morale. This is awesome."

"I'm not promising anything," Pippa began, but she didn't get a chance to finish her sentence, as the rumbling grew louder. And louder. And then the passageway started shaking. Pippa and James shared a terrified look.

"I never knew this old thing could collapse," He said grabbing her arm and pulling her back in the direction of the entrance. "Or I never would have brought you here."

"Let's just go!" Pippa yelled, and they both broke into a run, scrambling through the shaking tunnel. Bits of debris fell and loose rock fell on them overhead, and Pippa used her free arm to throw the hood of her cloak over her head.

"Almost there," James panted, as the light from the outside corridor, flooding through the entrance tunnel came into sight. Then he turned to Pippa in alarm. "You have the book?"

"Yes, yes; keep running!" Pippa showed him the brown, weather beaten thing and James nodded grimly and the continued running for the entrance.

"That brick was probably an integral part of the cave's structure," James coughed.

"Then why didn't this thing collapse when you came in here for the first time?" Pippa asked, out of breath.

"I only took the brick out for a moment or two," James pulled Pippa over to his side as a rather large chunk of rock came falling down.

"But I don't think brick's are supposed to be "integral part of structures"." Pippa dusted off her head.

"Well, I expect it is enchanted, of course."

"_Then why is this stupid thing caving in on us?_"

James shrugged. "I dunno."

Pippa shook her head. "Come on; less talking, more running!"

There was a giant rumble behind them. James turned his head around and his eyes widened.

"Okay, Pippa; on the count of three we have to _dive_ for the door, got it?"

"What?" Pippa panted incredulously. "_Dive_?"

"This thing isn't going to hold much longer and we're not going to get there running. Dive. It's our only way out."

Pippa nodded, numb with shock, when a thought struck her head. She stopped dead in her tracks.

"_Wait a minute!_"

"What on earth—" James turned around, making a grab at her arm. "_Pippa_—"

"We have _wands_," Pippa said incredulously, grinning.

"It's about to blow—"

"_PROTEGO!_"

James grabbed Pippa's arm, and they dived, her protective charm making sure that nothing hurt them. They landed at the mouth of the entrance, half of their bodies landing on the carpeted corridor, their elbows getting horrible carpet burns; their legs in the passageway. James turned around. The walls had caved in entirely, though the entrance, where their legs were, was holding out. But he didn't want to risk it.

"Come on," He said, tugging on her arm. "We need to go; the whole school's probably heard it—"

"That was the stupidest, funniest, craziest thing I've ever done!" Pippa had collapsed into a fit of giggles. "I really am an idiot."

James looked at her, taken aback. Had she gone mad from her near-death? Was this an after-affect of the shock?

"Whatever," He pulled himself up. "We need to leave—" James cut off as he heard footsteps coming down the halls.

"Who's that?" Pippa asked, going silent.

"I have no idea," James gulped nervously. In his entire Hogwarts career, he'd never managed to collapse a passageway before, much less one that the teachers weren't supposed to know about.

He glanced at Pippa, who had gone scarily white. He'd gotten a couple of detentions for his worst prank, but this would probably result in his expulsion. And she'd get blamed for it as well. James hadn't wanted something like this to happen. He'd only been trying to _help_ her, for Merlin's sake; that had to do something for his karma. Much as he'd like to escape unscathed, the Gryffindor inside of him knew that he would never pin any blame on her.

"We're in big trouble," Pippa whispered, as the footsteps came closer.

"Not if I can help it," James said grimly, and he hefted himself outside, wincing; he now realized he had a cut on his right arm. He closed his eyes, found he couldn't come with anything, and decided to wing it.

"Sorry, Professor," James said opening his eyes. But he didn't see the cloak or a trouser pant or the polished shoes of a professor. Instead, he found himself staring at bare, tan, toned, skin; pedicured feet balancing effortlessly in five inch turquoise heels. He let out a gasp as he raised his head to meet her eyes.

"Well, well, well," He said, clearing his throat. "Deepika Davies. Pleasure, as always."

"Oh, Potter," Came the reply. The girl grinned (which looked rather like a Cheshire cat grin, albeit a very sexy one, Pippa noted) as she crouched down to his level. Her Head Girl badge was pinned on one side, her Slytherin badge on the other. "Am I going to have some fun now."

* * *

><p>Thanks for reading, and don't forget to hit the button and fill up the hungry little box down there!<p> 


End file.
